Vote It's Your Right.

So I've just got back from the polling station, and had a pleasant surprise.

I was going to vote for the Liberal Party (German FDP) before I got to the polling station, then I got a big surprise. An emphasis on the word big has to be used because that is exactly what the ballot paper was. Big, Huge, Enormous, but above all very, very, very, long, about a Meters worth of paper.

That's where it all went wrong for the Liberals. I had a choice I had not reckoned with, so many parties and not just the Four usual candidate parties.

And then I spotted it, I thought it was a joke, but there they were on A GERMAN BALLOT PAPER!!!!. The Pirate party, led by a Doctor of Physics and a Doctor of Mathematics. knowing what they stand for, seeing the Pirate Party on a ballot paper changed my mind very quickly and the poor Liberals as much as I like what they are, and what they stand for, lost my vote.

The Problem is, I can understand that creative folk want to protect their work and get paid for it, but in doing so they are also stomping around on my rights. Not the right to steal, because there isn't one. But my right to purchase their work and pay a FAIR price for it. And I mean FAIR.

Here's my manifesto, to help the beleaguered, tired and not least totally outdated Music, Television, Film and software makers.

1. Make your product available, I know this seems simple enough, but it's the first sticking point, and most do not grasp it.

2. Don't restrict your product, this means use of and where it's available. That as an example, Doctor Who is available in the UK as of Broadcast is obvious, but the DVD release so the rest of the world can see it , takes quite literally years, and I mean years. In the UK season 4 is available, and even the Easter special. But in Germany we've only just received season 2. Now don't give me all that rubbish about licencing, if you want the sales then do it. Whether on DVD through iTunes or whatever. We live in a Digital not Analogue age.

3. Monitizeation. Don't restrict yourself to one form of payment, maybe you are getting money from credit card firms for their use but, you are they by limiting your sales. Not everybody has a credit card, but most people have a bank account, and can do world wide transactions. Or Pay Pal or one of the myriad of other pay services that have let us the people, buy products, without a credit card.

Three simple points.

So what does this all mean and what does it have to do with the Pirate party? well they are there to stand up for my rights, that my rights are not stomped into the ground because some huge corporation, has the Pound/Dollar/Euro sign in their eyes. I am the consumer, I buy the products, I keep them in the money. We all do. The Corporate body's forget that. and if they want to live through this Depression they need to think about what customers, Consumers want and not their big money filled pockets. Because those pockets start to empty as soon as the money stops flowing in.

Go vote when you have the chance, have your say and don't let your rights be turned into nothing more than lip service.